I was looking at an old decommissioned printer I haven’t yet disassembled. I have a second even older printer sitting in pieces in my storage shed. I also have a full set of printed parts, full of bearings for an MPCNC.
But I’ve also been looking at the Milo 1.5 from Millennium. And perhaps the new mill from RatRig as well.
So - I’ve been thinking about self-sourcing something precise enough for PCBs and capable of aluminum or brass.
The choice seems to be between a small “mill” and a small MPCNC. I do think the mills would have a smaller footprint. But I also think either option could be enclosed.
Just guessing here, but I’m wondering if the MPCNC gurus have an opinion on the advantages of one design versus the other. It would obviously be more expensive for me to build a Milo style mill, although I’d be willing to invest the time and money if in the end it’s a much more capable machine.
As far as use case, I’m sure either would work for my current demands (mostly some flat sheet simple parts I could do on the LR3.) But I’d love to learn more about milling metal, so I’m really looking to expand my skills and capabilities.
Those are sort of opposite ends of the spectrum, but not really narrowing it down. Maybe something like average project, and size. I have not really looked much into a Milo but I assume it can handle metals a little bit better than an MPCNC, but that is honestly just a pure guess. All CNC should have no issue with PCB’s. It usually is more of a size thing. Just like we have the MPCNC for 48" of total rail distance and the LR for all than up to the full sheet. If you needed small part there is no real advantage of paying more for a LR and building it tiny.
As for foot print remember to calculate the full extremes of travel. Moving beds are usually much larger footprint.
I need to watch a few video though so I can figure out price and an idea of capabilities. Honestly I have only seen a few pictures. There was one at a RRF but I never made it over to give it a wiggle.
Sorry I guess that was not really much of an answer. A mill Should be better if you plan on doing mostly metal. If you plan on doing mostly other things the MPCNC is the right path in my opinion.